Copper sinks below $8,000 level with all metals sliding downwards

This morning, copper fell below $8,000 on the LME after significant losses both today and yesterday.

At 7:22am GMT, copper was trading at $8,028 (£5,136), but by 8:05am GMT had fallen to $7,985 (£5,108).

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The falls were due to disappointing market reaction to the US Federal Reserve failing to announce a fresh bout of quantitative easing, but instead launching Operation Twist which would involve buying $400 billion worth of long-term Government debt.

Additionally, the HSBC China Flash PMI also showed that manufacturing sentiment was down for the third month in succession in September. The snapshot of Chinese manufacturing activity dipped to 49.4 in September from 49.9 in August. A reading below 50 shows contraction.

The official price for three month copper yesterday was $8,253 (£5,280) which was down on Tuesday’s $8,420 (£5,359).

Aluminium was down to $2,292 (£1,466) this morning at 7:22am GMT. This compares to the official price of $2,300 (£1,471) on Wednesday, which in turn was lower than the $2,340 (£1,489) seen on Tuesday.

Alloy was priced at $2,260 (£1,471) on Wednesday down from $2,275 (£1,448) a day earlier.

Lead fell to $2,192 (£1,402) this morning (7:22am) from yesterday’s official price of $2,252 (£1,441). This was also down on Tuesday’s price of $2,318 (£1,475).

Nickel dropped below $20,000 this morning and was priced at $19,800 (£12,666) at 7:22 this morning. Yesterday’s official price was $20,700 (£13,242) down from Wednesday’s $21 ,175 (£13,477).

Tin sank to $20,505 (£13,117) earlier today (7:22am). This was down from $22,650 (£14,490) on Wednesday, which in turn was lower than Tuesday’s $23,195 (£14,763).

Zinc was trading at $2,034 (£1,301) at 7:22am. On Wednesday it was priced at $2,061 (£1,318) down from $2,113 (£1,345) the day before.

Steel remained the same on $570, the strengthening dollar meant the sterling value was up to £364 from £363 a day earlier.